BPA: Big Eddy-Knight delayed by one year

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has sent a letter to residents in Wasco and Klickitat counties saying its timeline for energizing its new Big Eddy-Knight Transmission Line has been delayed by a year.

In a letter dated June 20, BPA project manager Emmanuel Jaramillo said, “I am writing to notify you that the energization schedule for the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Big Eddy-Knight Transmission Line Project in Wasco County, Oregon, and Klickitat County, Washington, has been delayed.”

A source speaking to The Sentinel on condition of anonymity reports that the letter came two days after the BPA received a legal brief from a prominent law firm challenging the BPA’s right to certain easement properties, along with other concerns. Past minutes of Klickitat County commissioners’ meeting reveal that the BPA did give advance notice of its intention to delay the project to the commissioners.

The BPA’s letter, addressed to “Parties interested in the Big Eddy-Knight Transmission Project,” goes on to say, “BPA needs more time to address and complete cultural resource and land acquisition processes that are part of this project; these processes are ongoing. When BPA began construction activities in fall 2011, we anticipated energizing the line in the winter of 2013. At present, BPA estimates construction will be completed and the line energized in winter 2014. BPA will notify you when the timing for completing the project has been determined.

“Construction activity on most of the project will continue,” the letter asserts. “The delay will affect only certain parts of the project.”